Chatting with Tiffany Eckhardt

Tiffany Eckhardt has been writing songs on the family piano since she was 10 and is a nature girl at heart, she tells Michael Dwyer.

Guitar tabs, biographical info and road diaries are common fare on musicians'
websites. Tiffany Eckhardt's recipe for chocolate zucchini cake - sourced from a
"fellow veggie grower" in her neighbourhood near Winchelsea - is nourishing in a
more immediate way.

The gesture is a good metaphor for the domestic bliss evoked on her fifth
album, Barefoot. In a world apparently ready to rupture at the seams, it's a
reassuring letter from a patch of paradise in country Victoria.

"It's very peaceful and contented," she admits. "There's not much angst in it
compared to other ones I've done.

"I suppose having a baby makes life incredibly chaotic and complicated and
joyful and painful and excruciatingly everything. It simplifies everything,
gives you a new perspective about what's important."

The singer's two-year-old daughter, Ailish, is almost as palpable on the
album as her husband, highly respected roots-rock musician Dave Steel. As amply
documented in the lyrics, the pair have been throwing instruments into the back
of a Ford wagon and hitting the road for years.

"First time I met Dave I was playing this acoustic blackboard session in
Geelong," she says. "I was always very nervous and I remember this dark,
brooding stranger in the corner I hadn't seen before.

"Someone said, 'That's Dave Steel, he's really big'. I was very impressed. He
came up to me after the gig and said, 'If you need a hand with your music, let's
get together'.

"The sparks were flying!" she hoots. "But it was a long time after that that
we started playing music together."

Eckhardt had been writing songs on the family piano since she was 10,
switching to guitar when she went mobile at 17. The crisp country twang of
Barefoot has been a gradual development from more folkie origins, she says, but
the essence of her art remains verbal.

"The whole thing about writing is I'm not happy with something until I'm
saying exactly what I mean and exactly what I feel. Complete honesty. I have to
get that out.

"I really believe all human beings are the same, apart from our looks, and
when you're really honest I think you can reach people, because they feel the
same."

Apart from the odd festival trek as far as Queensland, Eckhardt's reach is
reliant on modest, sporadic radio airplay. A typical day is about her family,
her horse and the occasional paying job through her veggie patch.

"I've chosen my lifestyle, and that's determined my opportunities to some
extent," she says. "I've had a couple of people interested in furthering my
career, but they wanted me to move to the city and I just couldn't do it. I've
always been a bit of a nature girl. One day I'd love someone to make one of my
songs a hit so I can buy a new car."

But not her?

"Not necessarily. I don't think money and fame make people happy, I think
they stress people out. It's a big illusion. I really don't think those things
could make me happier than I am."

Neither, ultimately, can cake. "This year I've moved on," she says. "I've got
this great recipe for zucchini chutney."

Tiffany Eckhardt launches Barefoot with Dave Steel, Sandy Brady and John
Bedggood at the Clifton Hill Hotel tonight, with support from Alex
Legg.